What I've Been Playing This Week (aka Pile of Shame Sunday)

SAAAAILLING in the MOOON LIGHT

The following post is part of a series of posts that are published every Sunday to update readers on what Mark G has been up to with respect to finishing off games on his "Pile of Shame". The games to target are picked by Choicest Games contributors Choona, Luke and myself. As I'll be talking about my progress through these games, there may be spoilers ahead, especially for games containing a narrative. Consider yourself warned.

Quake II: Quad Damage

• Picked by Me
• Percentage Complete = 10%

Okay, call me crazy but I've added a couple of other games for me to try out each week on my Pile of Shame: GOG's version of Quake II called Quake II: Quad Damage and For Honor (although with the latter I'm actually unlikely to play it at all unless I've got some mates to try it out with).

So firstly, let us start with Quake II. I started playing the single player campaign on easy difficulty (because "easy" difficulty in the 1990s probably equates to "hard" difficulty in the 2010s) and man, the game seems so primitive compared to First-Person Shooters nowadays: it goes without saying that the graphics look primitive of course, but the gameplay seems so much simpler as there's no prone, no peeking, no reloading mechanics, etc. Unfortunately, the music doesn't play on Windows 10 machines which really sucks but there's apparently a workaround where you overwrite the executable using a program called Yamagi which more or less fixes the soundtrack issue; I say "more or less" because there was a slight hiccup with the music at one point, but hey, it's better than no music. Another awesome thing about Yamagi is that I can also play the game at my monitor's native resolution of 1920x1080 (which I couldn't do with the default version off GOG).

For Honor

• Picked by Me
• Percentage Complete = 10%

For Honor was being offered for free not that long ago so I decided to grab myself a copy. So far, I've only played through the tutorial and fighting the final opponent (a general, I believe) seemed a bit tough, like the so-called "guard breaks" weren't working. Overall though, enjoying the game so far, just got to try the multiplayer since that's where it's at, right? I also noticed that the game allows you to place Rainbow Six: Siege emblems on your armour which seems really out of place, but each to their own I guess.

Speaking of things that seem out of place, I also encountered an exception while quitting the game. I hope that this doesn't become common behaviour – you would've though the game was sufficiently polished by now considering it was originally released in February last year…

Hero-U: Rogue to Redemption

• Picked by Me
• Percentage Complete = 59%

In my new run, I found fighting gogs was again quite difficult (yes, there are creatures called gogs and they're not associated with Good Old Games either); in fact, I had to be rescued by Katie twice which means I've probably stuffed up my chances of getting Rogue of the Year again which ultimately means a bad ending (I would be pretty peeved if that turns out to be the result!).

I played the game later on in the week and actually managed to find Katie in the Sea Caves and even made some progress, uncovering lots of loot. I even managed to help out one of the ghosts find peace at the university which I had never done before.

Stardew Valley

• Picked by Me
• Percentage Complete = 20%

On hold while I'm playing other games. 😊

The Testament of Sherlock Holmes

• Picked by Me
• Percentage Complete = 25%

I haven't made any further progress on this – it's now on hold while I am distracted by… well… a lot of other games 😊.

Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag

• Picked by Luke
• Percentage Complete = 43%

I managed to do some "whaling" in the game, which is about as brutal as you would imagine it to be. I managed to hunt down a bull shark, an Orca and even a Humpback! Not sure what benefits you get from doing so though, except for maybe the raw materials to craft new items. I'm also trying to explore some more locations in the hope I find these side quests where you can help the Assassins since by doing so you can recover keys used to unlock some 1337 Templar armour. However, I don't actually know where those places are so it's like blindly fumbling in the dark at the moment.

Hacknet

• Picked by Choona
• Percentage Complete = 91%

I remotely euthanised someone using their pacemaker in Hacknet this week... considering I've got something very similar implanted in me, I'm not quite sure how to feel about that. This game definitely brings along its fair share of ethical conundrums and highlights the importance of network security - probably why you can get educational licences for this game now.

LINK:
[ The Pile of Shame ]